StumbleUpon CEO reveals the personality type he loves to hire

Everybody wants to hire stars. But StumbleUpon CEO Mark Bartels
isn't looking for people who shine alone — instead, he
prioritizes candidates who are true collaborators.

Which isn't to dismiss the value of people who thrive alone. "You
always want different types of people that you're working with,
and individual contributors are great," Bartels tells Business
Insider. "They're very productive, and they can have very high
output." There's just one limitation: ultimately, they're only
one person.

That's why he looks for what he calls "enablers" — people who are
not only high achievers, but also make everyone around them
better. "You hire one person," he explains, "but then that one
person goes on and trains and shares ideas with three other
people." The result is "a way more productive team" — and
fewer single points of failure.

In their natural habitats, enablers "tend to collaborate a lot,"
says Bartels. "They communicate a lot with other groups outside
their particular pod. You'll see them programming with other
engineers, they seem to want to organize meetups, and they tend
to want to share trade secrets if it gets the job done faster."
They're less protective of their own knowledge, and as a result,
they "empower people around them."

But it's one thing to appreciate enablers in action, and another
to spot them during the hiring process, before you've had the
chance to see them in action.

In Bartels' experience, though, there's an easy tell: "Look for
the words they use," he advises. While individual contributors
tend to talk about "I" and "me," enablers rely on phrases like
"we," "us," and "team." "When you ask them about a project,
they'll talk about the team, and a lot of the time, they'll give
credit to other people," he says. "And I don't see that as a
weakness — I see that as a positive."